Sad to report that M/V Grey Pearl a Nordhavn 62 that AVA LON was berthed alongside in Admiral Marina, Port Dickson, was lost in a Fire when berthed at Yacht Haven Marina in Phuket in early December 2011.

I had followed the travels of Grey Pearl and her buddy vessel SEABIRD as they made their way west from the USA, and it was interesting to see them also making the trip North from Singapore to Phuket Thailand, in October 2011, and for us to be berthed alongside each other in Port Dickson, as well as stopover in Langkawi at the same time.

Here is a screen shot picture of her from my Video of the trip from Singapore to Port Dickson. On You Tube at http://tinyurl.com/7pyyvqd

Aparently she caught fire when the owners were off the boat and back in the US, with no one onboard. With the Marina staff unable to stop the fire at the berth, they managed to tow the blazing yacht out of the Marina and beach her in a nearby river. She would surely have set many other boats on fire, if left in the Marina.

Here is a photo of what was left of her after she was left to burn out over the following days.

Lastly on the subject of fire, here is a link to another blog with a description and video of a rescue from another yacht fire, this time off the east coast of the US. http://yachtcaptainblog.com/2011/10/

Fires on boats are one of the worst case scenarios and very scary when they happen. As seen from these two incidents, once on fire, it is hard to save the yacht. Prevention is the best defence. Thankfully there were no serious injuries in either incident.